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Many things make The Cornmarket stand out from the crowd, not least the fact it’s so big it could be two pubs – and used to be!

You can even enter from different streets off Fenwick Street in Liverpool’s business district – The Old Ropery and Moor Street (where The Bulls Head was situated, before The Cornmarket swallowed it up in the late 1960s).

Yet despite its size, it seems to have passed many Merseysiders by. Poor things. Several readers pointed me in the pub’s direction, but luckily I didn’t need any pointing as I’ve been a long-time fan.

Kevin Smith, who has run the pub with his wife, Barbara, since 1990, says: “You often have to tell people ‘It’s opposite The Slaughter House’ – even taxi drivers.”

But once you find it, you’ll never forget it – not least the grand lounge (Old Ropery side), with its luxurious leather furniture and intricate wooden panelling (the latter from the Reina del Pacifico passenger ship of the Pacific Steam Navigation Co, which was scrapped in 1958).

It’s a place you could hide away in, which brings us onto its apparent popularity with canoodling office worker couples pursuing secret affairs: “Sometimes the woman will go and sit down – in a quiet alcove – and the man will order the drinks. But he’ll have to go and ask what the woman wants, because – not really knowing her – he has no idea.

“Another giveaway is when you see people kissing and cuddling – I may be old school but ordinary couples don’t do that in public. Christmas is the worst time. You’ll always see a fella who has obviously been looking at a female colleague all year and waiting for this chance to talk to her and buy her a drink.”

The Cornmarket, which, unlike so many buildings around it, somehow survived the Blitz, also boasts a beer garden and a large back room/function room (Moor Street side).

Kevin adds: “It can be frustrating that some people – despite the pub’s size – don’t know it’s here, but being tucked away is also part of its charm.”